AbeBooks book blog

We’ve been thinking a lot about maps lately. We recently featured a selection of vintage maps from around the world. We also got lost browsing through vintage road maps and travel guides from the first half of the 20th century. These pieces of ephemera – an item created with a short-lived purpose in mind, are […]

Yo, listen up. Thug Notes offers his gangsta analysis of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. It’s a pretty good interpretation once again. I wonder if university students will be referencing Thug Notes this term?

In the summer of 2012 Larry McMurtry auctioned off about 300,000 volumes from the warehouses of his bookshop Booked Up. It was the rare book event of the summer and two film makers were there to catch the action. They have put together a short trailer to promote the film they hope to make if […]

In one of our Ask AbeBooks videos, we answered a letter from a woman seeking suggestions to keep her attention-span-challenged kid engaged when reading about school subjects. One of the suggestions that my colleague Richard made was for Terry Deary’s Horrible Histories series . Featuring titles such as The Vile Victorians, Ruthless Romans and Awful […]

My colleagues Richard and Christi put together this great video (above) about the importance of reading to children, and even provided some helpful guidelines on how to get started, and how to get the most out of your bedtime (or anytime!) reading. I’ve added the tips below as well, for reference, as well as a […]

To describe this video in only one word would never do it justice, but if I had to: bizarre. Featuring a stern, turtlenecked librarian named Betty Glover, this is nearly five minutes of surreal, spoof workout advice for librarians, made in 1987 by an Arizona State University student. While disturbingly sizeist and focused on the […]

Think you know everything about Jane Austen? Don’t be so sure. Our colleague Julie has compiled a list of 10 fascinating tidbits about Ms. Austen, and presents them in a most compelling – and creatively costumed- way in her video. Don’t miss out.

This ir our first “Ask AbeBooks” video, in which we recommend unusual cookbooks to Marjorie, who wrote to us from Wichita asking for gift suggestions. Enjoy. And if you’d like, you can read about even more weird cookbooks.

I blogged once about the difficulties of comfortable reading in bed and revealed that I am a tummy-and-elbow reader. When I asked around I discovered there were side readers, back-with-the-book-in-the-air readers, propped-against-headboard-or-pillow readers, and more – but the youtube user below gets into some positions I’ve never even attempted. Perhaps she’s into yoga.